On July 5, Adarsh Shrivastava, a passenger, travelling from Awadh Express (19040), noticed 25 girls crying and expressing insecurities on their faces in his bogie S5. He immediately created a Twitter account and sent out a tweet tagging Railways, Piyush Goyal, PM Modi and UP CM Yogi following which the authorities in Varanasi and Lucknow swung into action.
The GRP at Gorakhpur coordinated with Childline along with the anti-trafficking unit of the police.
Two RPF jawans in plainclothes boarded the train at Kaptanganj and escorted them to Gorakhpur.
“26 girls were found with two men, aged 22 and 55 years. All of them are from West Champaran in Bihar. The girls were being taken from Narkatikyaganj to Idgah. When questioned, the girls were unable to answer anything convincingly, so they have been handed over to the child welfare committee, reported news agency PTI.
The girls are believed to be between the age group of 10 and 14 years.
“Their parents have been informed and the men have been taken into custody,” a statement from RPF said.
This incident comes days after Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani launched an awareness campaign for protection of children coming in contact with railways.